Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has ordered the allocation of plots of land for two major healthcare projects.
The Gulf kingdom’s ruler called for an area of more than 5.5m sq m to be made available to build King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Jeddah and King Abdullah Medical City between Makkah and Jeddah.
The directive was announced by Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Health Dr Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabiah in comments published by Saudi Press Agency on Friday.
The minister said that the king had also approved the “necessary funds for the establishment of the first phase of the hospital and approved the amounts necessary for the medical city”.
The minister added that contracts for the two projects will be awarded soon.
The majority of nationals and Arab expats are happy with the quality of healthcare available in the Gulf, with satisfaction levels rising to as high as 90 percent in Qatar, according to a study released in March.
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) governments have increased their investments in the healthcare industry as their countries are experiencing serious health problems, such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
The Gallup poll said Qatar had the highest levels of satisfaction in the Gulf region at 90 percent, followed by the UAE at 79 percent.
Coming third was Oman (78 percent), ahead of Bahrain (70 percent) and Kuwait (62 percent), while Saudi Arabia was last in the GCC with 60 percent.
In February, it was reported that Saudi Arabia had launched SR2bn ($533.3m) worth of healthcare projects, including 16 medical centres and five medical warehouses, in the northwest province of Hail.
Plans for a new 200-bed maternity and children’s hospital at a cost of SR400m, a 300-bed hospital in southwest Hail plus another 15 primary health care centres had been approved.
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